Playing at Life
by Hitomi Zotz
Summary: What if the fayth stopped dreaming? In a story of Auron's revenge, Yuna's sacrifice and Tidus' heroism, Elowyn finds her own tale tangled as Sin is only meant to take 1 being from Zanarkand but takes 2, but she's not meant to be in Spira and she has a curse unwelcome there the ability to awaken the fayth. A retelling of FFX in which the real secrets of Yu Yevon and the fayth unfold
1. Prologue- Death Is Only The Beginning

_The adventures of Final Fantasy X told more from the viewpoint of Sir Auron. Not just a retelling however as I've decided to add my own twist to the story to keep it unexpected and interesting. Elowyn is a resident of Zanarkand who has drifted listlessly through the city as if in a dream until a chance encounter with Tidus. Feeling alive with him she makes an effort to attend his match on the fateful night that Sin attacks. She finds herself a stoaway to the world of Spira a foreign land to which she feels a strange connection. She endeavours to find Tidus again but when she does, she does not seem to share the same confusion he does or such a strong desire to go home. Determined to find out the reasoning behind her thoughts she joins Tidus and the others on Yuna's pilgrimage but a gift to upset the Aeons and see things unseen makes the others wonder if she is friend or foe._

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><p><em>Sometimes an end can be a beginning. As one tale ends another story begins, perhaps a more important one, maybe even the final one. A story that belongs not just to one person but to many- each with their own interpretation and chapter to add.<em>

It couldn't end like this, Braska and Jecht, all for nothing... He clenched his chest tightly as a bloody cough erupted out of it. Perhaps he shouldn't have left the inn, no, he was dying, he knew it, he had known it the moment the bitch had cut him down. He was young and naive; they had all been naive in the end. The end, no this couldn't be the end, not for him, not for them, and not for Spira. It would be an endless circle of death if he didn't keep going. He had promises to fulfil, Tidus and Yuna, he had promised to look after them.

He saw the lights of Bevelle, Spira's proud capital, where it had all began and where it would now tragically end. He doubled over in a fit of coughs, thick globs of blood clogging his throat as he did. The lights winked at him in a blur as he swayed and fell to his knees. So close, so damn close! They had all been, Braska had been so convinced that this would be the end of the horror of Sin forever but he was wrong, he had been misled and tricked, they all had. There was no end to Sin, no end to the sacrifice of the summoners and their loyal guardians, no end... Even death could not stop the evil that had taken this world tightly in its clutches and corrupted and reshaped it into a deception, a lie, death...

He paused at that thought; she had survived death, the first summoner Yunalesca, more powerful than in life, cruel from centuries of continuing a dance she had started, and from existing with the knowledge that her own first sacrifice had not been enough. It was why, he was certain, she kept the dance going, she wanted every other summoner to know her pain and worse, she did not want them to find success and win against Sin eternally because then it would mean they had succeeded where she had failed.

He forced himself to his feet just in time to see the approaching Ronso with his good eye. His vision was dark at the edges and he could barely make out the Ronso, blue furred, male, small and...hornless? No, not quite. It stopped before him with a curious stare. He tried to take another step forward and his entire body gave out. Well this would have to be it then, getting to Bevelle at least was something, perhaps there was a chance. Could this Ronso be here to help?

"My name is Auron," he addressed the male sternly as he pushed himself to his knees this time. Another chorus of bloody coughs followed soaking his torn clothes and the hard ground beneath him. So close, he had thought it would be nice to see Bevelle again but now he realised as he spied it behind the Ronso, that it would have been horrid. It wouldn't be Bevelle without them; it would be a collection of taunting memories, a mockery of his former happiness.

"Auron," the Ronso retorted stiffly as he puzzled over the name. "Auron, Braska's guardian?"

He gave a bloody smile in answer; this would make things easier hopefully. "Yes," he confessed, "Braska's guardian and friend. He banished Sin and died in the process," he explained bluntly. There was no time for detailed explanations, his blood was flowing faster now and his agonised body was turning numb. The sun was setting turning the sky a pale, pinkish-red, it seemed poetic and fitting that he should die with it. "He made me promise to look after his daughter..." He winced as his open amber eye went wide and a mouthful of blood came up his throat without warning to spray onto the ground. "Yuna," he choked out, "her name is Yuna...seven, just seven... Please..."

"Kimahri, I am Kimahri," the Ronso answered, his voice still deep and calm as if a stranger wasn't confessing his last wishes to him.

"Kimahri please, I have no strength left, no time... Please, take Yuna to Besaid, it was Braska's wish that she...might grow up there. Ten years...ten years of peace...please..."

The Ronso nodded, Auron was not to know it but Kimahri had recently found himself disgraced and humiliated, without a tribe or a purpose and now here he was being given one, it was a chance he could not ignore. "I will do this," he said seriously.

Auron smiled again, this time with relief. "Then this at least...I won't have completely failed in." He sagged again, clutching at his chest with one hand as the stabbing pains grew worse. "Go now," he ordered sternly, "and find Yuna, please."

"You need help," Kimahri protested with wide eyes.

Auron shook his head as his smile turned bitter. "It's too late for me but not for her." He froze up at his own words and thought in anger, 'it's too late for everyone if I don't do something more. Jecht, Braska, how selfish of you both to leave me with this burden! How selfish to abandon me, to abandon your children and Spira! I warned you, I said it wouldn't be forever!' He let out a disturbing laugh that set the Ronso's teeth on edge.

"Go now Kimahri," he spoke up again, softer this time. His tongue burned with the taste of blood, his mouth was full of it and it was all he could smell, damp, salty, metallic and warm, it was nauseating and almost overwhelming.

The Ronso nodded. "I will take Yuna to Besaid," he vowed before he turned to the long shadows of the city and moved towards the twinkling lights.

"Braska," Auron called out, "Jecht...it can't be this way. I will find a way to make this stop, to save your children and Spira, I will find a way."

'Death is not the end,' he thought, 'it is only another chapter in the story and my story is not yet done.' He let out a loud, hysterical laugh as blood rushed up him once more, thick and black. The laughter gave way to several violent coughs before he fell once more. This time he did not rise, instead the beautiful but sorrowful lights of death known as pyreflies rose up from his corpse, soft and quick, swirling about his body as if they were not quite ready to leave.

So it was in the wake of Braska's bitter victory against Sin that his guardian Auron died and began the second part of his story. A story that was to merge with the stories of others', to create chapters in the lives of Tidus and Yuna, the worried children of Jecht and Braska who even now still clung onto hope for the return of their fathers, incapable of guessing at the dark fate they had met. It was only when the sun finally sunk below the horizon and the last of its golden rays fled, giving way to the cool, indigo and violet shades of dusk that Auron's pyreflies moved, a new purpose realised in them.

Death was not the end, it was only the beginning.

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><p><em>Thanks for reading and please continue to read and review! I suck at descriptions, I don't want to reveal too much of what I have planned for this fic but suffice to say it's been inspired from playing the recently released HD version of FFX and remembering how much I loved this game for its plot and characters, especially Auron. Since there's enough fics based on Auron's past with Braska, and the game itself is from Tidus' P.O.V, I wanted to do a fic based around the game but more from Auron's P.O.V but I wanted to make it a little different so people get something new from it and of course because I can't resist having my OCs in it.<em>


	2. Chapter 1- Someone Else's Story

Elowyn Dusk was, for a change, a little in awe tonight as it was the Zanarkand Abes big game and the city had put on a grand show for the event. Billboards showed images of Abes' star Tidus and his team along with pictures of former Abes' star Jecht- Tidus' father who had gone missing just over ten years ago. Normally, Elowyn couldn't care for blitzball or Zanarkand's light shows but tonight was different, tonight Tidus was playing and despite herself she couldn't help but admire the blonde blitzball star.

Elowyn had met the player just over a month ago; he had found her down by the pier looking wistfully out to the sea. He had come to train there, it was his secret spot to hide from his fans and contemplate things, such as where his father had gone (though he would never admit it), and he had been miffed to see the woman there at first. When they had talked for a little while the pair had warmed to each other and in the end Tidus had actually been glad for her company. Elowyn had enjoyed his too because for the first time in a long time she had felt real and alive. It was strange but until meeting Tidus for months now, perhaps even years, Elowyn had felt out of place, as if she were wandering in a dream, it had annoyed her parents to no end and frustrated her few friends.

'I don't belong here,' she thought wistfully as she looked up at the image of a large, grinning Tidus. 'I don't know why but I don't.' Her mother scorned such thoughts as nonsense, saying firmly that she had birthed Elowyn and therefore knew for a fact that Elowyn was indeed from Zanarkand. Elowyn smiled at the memory though she was tense with frustration, why did she get the jarring feeling lately that somehow her mother was wrong?

The vast city was aglow, every window was lit up, every road and path illuminated from the sides, and every building was framed and ringed in neon. It was the natural state of the city, every night long into the dawn it was alight with life. The sky was smudged in red and green light pollution but somehow, miraculously, the stars were still visible, winking down faintly from the darkening sky. Everywhere Elowyn looked towering buildings of steel and glass seemed to be, goliath structures of various shapes they stretched on endlessly, rising so high it hurt to look up at them. They all seemed crammed so close together and yet the paths and roads between them were wide ensuring there was plenty of room for the blitzball fans to hurry through.

It was an impressive metropolis of modern society and machinery, boasting the latest technology and all but smothering its residents with its fashionable towers and turrets of metal and its contemporary streets, which were decorated with lampposts, neon signs and numerous water features. It was easy to forget with all the lights and chaos that Zanarkand was in fact a seaside city, with its wealthier residents boasting houses on steel stilts out on the ocean. Often these buildings were long, artistic structures shaped with curves and points, and highlighted with colourful lights, each trying to express some creative uniqueness and stand apart from the repetitive buildings that made up the bulk of the city.

Elowyn wasn't even lucky enough to live in one of the crowded city towers, her family were poor, and poor folk of the city lived in small shelters down on the ground as the city prided itself in having no vagrants on the streets. Elowyn's mother, after giving her daughter a good beating, had suggested sarcastically that Elowyn thought she didn't belong in this city because she viewed being poor as beneath her. Elowyn had scowled and muttered that, that wasn't it, earning herself another slap.

That wasn't it though, even now as she walked along the busy streets with lively crowds she just did not share their enthusiasm, she just wasn't as alive. It was as if she were wandering through a fog, everyone who passed her by was a forgotten blur, everything she looked at seemed hazy, as if it could be banished merely by blinking.

It was why she went to the pier, to gaze out at the ocean and wonder what was out there. What were the other cities and countries like? There were tales of Bevelle, grand, powerful and dangerous with machina that could perhaps rival Zanarkand's. Elowyn wanted to know the truth of that, to see Bevelle and the rest of the world with her own eyes. Yet when she voiced these thoughts it was if she were speaking taboo, her friends looked at her oddly, their eyes blurring in a moment of confusion, as if there was no outside world.

She winced as someone banged into her and someone else elbowed her. When a third person charged into her and she almost lost her footing she also lost her temper. "Watch it!" she snapped angrily as she pushed back a coil of her silvery-blonde hair.

The assailant, a teenage boy, glared at her, his eyes going wide with horror when he took in her face. "You watch it burnface!" he snapped back bravely before hurrying on.

She frowned at the insult before muttering a curse and continuing on her way. Once, years ago, and shortly after the accident, she had cried at such insults but now she either matched them with her sharp tongue or simply shrugged them off, too used to them to be affected by them.

It had been a terrible accident ten years ago; she and two other beggars had been playing in an old machina factory when one of them had tripped a faulty switch. She had been just fourteen at the time when the explosion had happened, one simple, foolish error and it had ended her friends' lives and changed hers permanently. The left side of her face had a spiderweb of whitish-pink scars running down it, her nose was misshapen, bent awkwardly to the right with a thin crack along its middle, her neck had red scarring down both its sides, worst on the left side, and the tip of her right ear was missing. Her hair had been burnt off, the patches that remained were shorn down short and when it had grown back it had come thinner and paler, almost white (shock, people had murmured) and wispy in appearance.

It was strange but it was right around the time Jecht had disappeared from the city, not that Elowyn had cared much but a bitter side of her at the time had felt glad to know that others were suffering too even if it was in a different way.

She was nearly there; she could see the statues that guarded the entrance to the stadium looming ahead, two blitzball players frozen in mid-motion, a blue orb above each of them with the symbol of the competing teams lit up on them. The main doors were wide open and blocked by a crowd of late comers trying to force their way in. Elowyn looked on in despair, plucked her ticket out of her breast pocket, clutched it tight and started to run. It had been her most prized possession for a week now, a gift from Tidus himself, it wasn't a good seat he had lamented but she hadn't cared, the fact that he had even thought of her... It was why she was determined to go, even though it had meant lying to her mother and earning a beating for her deception. Her mother hadn't believed that she was heading out to find coin, she had been suspicious of Elowyn's unusually happy mood and had delayed her from the game, determined to find out the truth. Elowyn had escaped at last with two new bruises but the truth still a secret, if her mother were to learn she had a ticket to the game and hadn't sold it for money for the family she would be furious.

Elowyn sprinted on determined to make it into the game. She had to feel the euphoria, to see him play and feel alive once more. It was like taking a deep breath air, feeling unpolluted sunlight on her skin or bathing in the clean, open sea, it was life, it was living, a feeling she yearned for and yet seemed strangely deprived of. She knew when she was before the lights of the stadium surrounded by the screams of an eager crowd that she would taste it again; she just had to move quicker!

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><p>He gazed down at the glowing towers in cold remembrance; nothing had changed since his first visit ten years ago. Perhaps that was good, now it could all change together. He took a daring step forward on the metal beam that supported him high above the metropolis, his loose sleeve flapping gently in the rising wind. Another step and then another and then he felt the cool spray of water reminding him of his purpose here, it was hard not to reminisce. He looked forward at the rising mound of water and gestured to it with one raised arm, fearless as it grew bigger and closer. Satisfied that he had acknowledged it he turned away and began to swiftly make his way down to the soon to be annihilated streets below.<p>

Auron recalled as he moved his first time here, it had been a bittersweet arrival, he had been so eager to see the Zanarkand his friend Jecht had told him of and yet so sad to come here without him and worse, to tell his young son that his father wasn't coming home. He had lingered near the boy for ten years now, dipping in and out of his life attempting to watch over him but when his mother had died so soon after Auron's arrival it had made things difficult. He had thought moodily that he was not cut out to be a father figure and that there was a reason why he alone of the trio of Braska, Jecht and himself, had no children.

He made it to the ground at last as the first screams of panic began. He alone walked through the streets, calm as his boots splashed through puddles whilst everyone else ran about in terror of the behemoth of water rising steadily above them sucking buildings into it like a whirlpool drawing in liquid. Something within the water pulsed and bodies of fire seemed to shoot out from it, exploding through buildings and rendering them into rubble effortlessly. Auron continued on his journey unperturbed as buildings fell to ruin around him and people were crushed in the process. Smoke and dust clouded the air, as screams and the sound of explosions rose up to the skies. He was almost there; he could see it just ahead, the stadium.

He watched calmly through his dark shades as the statues guarding the open doors cracked and shattered into ruin, one's head falling hard onto a crowd of shrieking of people. He continued on, moving with ease against the flow of wide eyed, crying people who fled from the stadium with broken, bruised and bloodied limbs, some only just managing to limp whilst others tripped or slipped in the panic over debris and puddles, falling to be crushed underneath by others. He was unfazed by at it as he stopped near the entrance, leaning up against a statue's broken pedestal, satisfied that what remained of the stadium was not going to come down on top of him.

"Auron! What are you doing here?" The young blonde who exclaimed these words eyed the man with disbelief as he staggered to a halt to gape at him. The blonde was drenched from head to toe and covered in dust and minor scratches, a miracle given the fall he had taken.

"I was waiting for you," Auron answered calmly as if the world wasn't falling apart around them.

"What are you talking about?" the blonde demanded with a wave of his arms.

Auron simply ignored him and started to walk away from the remains of the stadium giving the blonde no choice but to follow him. It was then that Elowyn, who had been hanging back on the edge of the ruins trying to avoid the crowds, slipped out and started to follow. It was Tidus, surely if she was stuck with him she would find safety in this panic, he was the star blitzball player, a somebody, people would look out for him!

Elowyn had found herself shut out of the game despite her best efforts to squeeze through the crowds and several arguments with the guards. It was when she had been mid-argument with a guard that the destruction had begun. Elowyn had seen the statues shattering before it had even happened, she had watched transfixed as they came down around her, killing several people in the process, whilst a nearby building went up in flames as all its windows shattered into a thousand shards. Snapping out of the image she had bolted from the stadium doors without warning, moving to the side just before the statues had fallen. Confused but considering it a simple moment of luck, she had lingered nearby in a daze, unsure what to do until Tidus of all people had rushed out from the ruins.

They moved quickly, running and running until they were clear of the crowds, sprinting up a long stretch of road lit up in orange. Elowyn halted briefly as she noted that they were moving against the crowd, she went to call out to the blonde when she noticed how he too had stopped. 'Has he realised?' she wondered as she looked for the man in the red coat who Tidus had been pursuing. Who was he anyway? And what exactly was going on?

Tidus looked about himself in confusion, his blue eyes filling with surprise when he spied Elowyn. He turned away from her and cried out, "hey wait!"

The fair haired woman could not tell who or what he was yelling at but when he started to run again she followed. He was quick though, quicker than her undoubtedly thanks to years of blitzball training, and she lost him in a throng of wailing people.

Tidus spotted Auron up ahead near the end of the road before a break in it, where a once natural hill in the road had split in two. The blonde caught up to him with a pant. "Hey! Not this way!" he protested as he doubled over, his stinging palms pressing against his knees. They were blistered and cut from the way they had scrapped along the metal edge of the stadium roof he had clung onto for dear life just moments ago.

"Look," Auron ordered as he looked pointedly ahead.

Tidus followed his gaze obediently and let out a gasp of horror as he stumbled back in surprise. What hovered up in the brown-black sky beggared belief, it was like nothing he had ever seen before. Just a few feet behind Elowyn followed his stare and spied the same thing. A huge, silvery orb of water floated in the sky like a liquid moon, with something gigantic hidden within it. 'Sin,' the word came to her suddenly, odd and yet she knew instinctively that it was right, this thing was called Sin.

"We called it "Sin"," Auron explained to Tidus quietly.

"'Sin'?" Tidus' echoed, the shock evident in his voice. Was it alive?

Auron turned his gaze back to Tidus, his mouth parting to explain but there was a noise of metal and glass breaking as a creature came from the orb to grab hold of a building. Big and black with purple tentacles, it dug into the building before its tentacles rose up revealing green, glowing, oval shaped things that glowed and twitched before shooting off it in all directions.

Three crashed into the road in front of Auron and Tidus, causing it to crack with the force. Their bodies seemed to split revealing their dark shells to actually be wings. They scurried forward with high pitched cries on four diamond shaped legs with thin, sharp ends, snapping at Tidus with strange mouths that opened horizontally, their edges jagged.

Unarmed and no match, the blonde stumbled back from them, letting out a grunt when he fell on his rear. Elowyn moved then, rushing forward to aid though she was not sure how she would do that or what with. As she neared them Auron held out a large sword to the blond and commanded him to, "take it."

Tidus accepted it with wonder, crying out again as he almost fell with the weight of it. It was a large blade, crimson red with a split on its left side as a smaller blade seemed to grow from it and curve down. He had never seen it before and yet there was some familiarity from it that he could not explain.

"A gift from Jecht," Auron said bluntly. The dark haired man knew he was being unfair, rude even but there was no time.

"My old man?" Tidus choked out as he wondered if he was in fact dreaming. His stadium was gone, Zanarkand was burning, these strange creatures had come from an orb in the sky and now Auron was talking about his dead father. Could this be real? He shook his head in puzzlement and a weak attempt to shake the dream if it was one.

A creature made to strike out at him in his confusion but before its dark maw could grab Tidus' arm a chunk of stone struck it hard in the skull causing it to hiss angrily and scuttle back. Elowyn looked at it triumphantly as Tidus looked from it to her in surprise whilst Auron gave her only a passing glance before he turned his attention back to the creatures. So there was at least one citizen in Zanarkand who wasn't a cowardly, screaming mess, that was good to know. It would be pointless in the end as soon she would be a memory with the rest of them, but Auron wasn't going to turn down her help even if he didn't need it, let her fight, let her feel like she could make a difference. He tensed, frowning at his own thoughts as he realised they seemed familiar for all the wrong reasons. Wasn't that exactly why Jecht and Braska had suffered, to make a difference?

He sighed when Tidus fell again as he swung the sword and commented sardonically, "I hope you know how to use it."

Tidus nodded confidently as he jumped back up again and swung hard, almost severing one of the beast's heads from its body.

"These ones don't matter, we cut through!" Auron snapped as he charged forward with his sword, an impressive looking, long bladed katakana.

Tidus found himself thrust into battle for the first time, up until now it had all been in water, combat with hands and feet, sometimes violent, often sore but never a life or death situation. He let his adrenaline rush carry him on, swinging the sword out blindly, just hoping to hit something, anything with it. Elowyn tried to help, throwing more chunks of broken road at the creatures to distract them so Tidus could strike them. The blonde was so caught up in his puzzlement and panic that he barely noticed Elowyn's aid and only hit the creatures by chance.

It was Auron who beat most of them back, each one he smashed fell with a shriek and seemed to dissolve, turning into a small collection of beautiful, swirling lights that in turn vanished. Elowyn was transfixed when she saw it, it was so bizarre and yet alluring, it was like colourful, living beings of mist dancing in the air with a tiny star at their centre, such a beautiful thing to come from something so ugly. With no time to wonder at it, she continued to throw rubble until Auron felled the last of the creatures.

The red coated man led the way on, racing up to the split of the road then leaping over it with ease. Tidus followed hesitantly whilst Elowyn paused for a moment. She took in the view of the city in silent horror, it was an ocean of blazing amber, everything was on fire, even the sea itself seemed aglow and the air was full of the song of the dying. She trembled to see the sea aflame, it had been her peaceful place, a place that couldn't burn, an endless stretch of water that she could dive into to save herself from fire. The wails surrounded the road, audible even over the roar of the flames. As she finally followed after Tidus she wondered if her parents were still alive and if they were, would they make it? Would anyone?

She let out a gasp of horror at what greeted them on the next stretch of road. There were more of the bug like creatures and behind them one of the great tentacled beasts that they seemed to have come from. It was sticking up from the road, its tentacles glowing and twitching menacingly, for a moment Elowyn thought it was stuck but then she realised quickly that it was there deliberately.

"Get out of my town!" Tidus yelled at it defiantly, ready with his sword though he could only half raise it.

"Some can't wait to die!" Auron snarled threateningly. He moved before any of the creatures or Tidus could, jumping into the air with a surprising speed. He came down just as quickly, plunging his sword so hard into the ground Elowyn was certain the blade would shatter and Tidus felt the impact that followed. The ground seemed to quake and light up beneath the bugs, exploding up from under them without warning and turning them and their tentacled companion into more glowing mist lights, leaving behind dark shells and one giant limp tentacle and the grotesque dark body it grew from.

"Auron..." Tidus murmured in quiet awe as he gazed up at the man in disbelief. 'Who knew the old man had it in him?' he thought in wonderment.

Auron gave no reply but started to run once more, bypassing the lifeless shells with ease. He did not even seem to have broken a sweat with his attack and ran with the same speed as before. Tidus and Elowyn both struggled to keep up and only then did the blonde finally realise that the woman was following them.

Tidus turned to look at her, his sapphire eyes widening as he realised who she was. "Elowyn!" he greeted in surprise. "Where did you come from? Do you know what's going on?"

"I was outside the stadium when you ran out," she explained swiftly as she matched his pace at last. "I didn't know what to do in the chaos and you and him seemed like you knew where to go," she admitted with a nod in Auron's direction.

Tidus followed her gaze and sighed. "Not me," he cried out over the roar of the flames beneath them and the sound of buildings falling all around them, "he might know."

Auron stopped as they reached the end of the road at last.

"Auron! Let's get out of here!" Tidus exclaimed as he looked about them with worry.

They could hear the iron bars holding up the road begin to creak and felt its foundations shudder beneath them. Another building collapsed close to the right sending up a flurry of smoke and dust that half-blinded them. They were not safe here, in another few minutes this road would collapse!

"We're expected," Auron replied, still calm despite their situation.

"Huh?" Tidus gaped at him openly whilst Elowyn felt out of place. It was hardly the right time or place for such an emotion but she felt it nonetheless.

'I don't belong,' she thought for the umpteenth time in her life. 'I'm not meant to be here...he means him and Tidus, not me but then... Who's expecting them? What happens to me?' She heard the screams calling up from the fire and shuddered as she realised that was her answer. 'No not the fire!' she thought out in horror. 'Not the fire again!'

"Gimmie a break man!" Tidus shouted out angrily.

Some machinery dropped from above without warning and for a brief moment both Tidus and Elowyn were flying through the air as it smashed off the road above them causing it to sink down as smoke and dust engulfed them. They hit the ground awkwardly, Tidus rolling back with a cough whilst Elowyn gasped and only just managed to catch hold of a bent, iron bar for support as the road they were on tipped precariously. Only Auron seemed unaffected by the damage, standing unwavering, looking to the new road ahead. It was broken and unstable, resting uneasily on their road threatening to push it down with its weight but all three could see that it was their only option; it was that or face the fire below.

Feeling the flames rising higher and threatening to pull them down Elowyn bolted on ahead before Tidus even stood. 'Not the fire, not the fire!' she thought in horror.

"Go!" Auron ordered Tidus as the road began to shake again.

They ran together as explosions erupted all around them, blinding them with flashes of yellow and causing them to go temporarily deaf as a ringing filled their ears. This was it, the end of the road, the end of Zanarkand. Her feet were burning, and her skin was blistering, all around her the road seemed to be aflame as yellow explosions ripped it up. "No! NO!" she shrieked out defiantly. "I WON'T BURN AGAIN!"

She jumped, threw herself off and up in a mad, desperate manoeuvre and looked up to the pulsing beast above. "NOT ME!" she screamed at it. "NOT ME! I WON'T BURN AGAIN!"

Warm, it was a different kind of warm, a heat she had never felt before, it did not hurt, it soothed. She allowed it to embrace her, it felt right, it felt safe. She did not question it, it was too late, she trapped now, rising up into the light.

Tidus only just managed to see the woman seem to vanish upwards, sucked up in a blur like so many buildings and people before her. Gone, vanished, it couldn't be. He flung himself up and grasped the edge of another broken road desperately.

Auron was up there, he had moved quicker than Tidus, he had made it onto the road whilst Tidus was clinging desperately to the edge. 'She lasted longer than I thought,' Auron thought sardonically to himself, 'but it's over now.'

Tidus glimpsed the edges of a scarlet coat above him, the same coat he had once clutched desperately as a sobbing child, shaking it angrily as he wailed at its owner to bring his father back. "Auron!" he cried out.

He appeared in sight, looking down at the blonde calmly over the edges of his dark shaded glasses. The road ripped apart and started floating up, up towards the monster in sky, up to where everything and everyone unburned had instead disappeared to. Tidus could see it now as he felt his legs rising up to it, it was a great, grey beast, a glowing amber hole sucking up the debris around him, a whirlpool of flesh that turned and twisted about the hole of light.

Auron glanced over his shoulder up to the hole, still and calm. "You are sure?" he quipped quietly, only just audible over the churning wind that seemed to howl around them. He turned back to Tidus at last, kneeled down and grasped him by his collar tightly. "This is it," he said firmly.

Tidus wondered if the man was trying to rescue him or offer him up as a sacrifice to the roaring behemoth above them. He struggled and groaned but it was in vain. "This is your story," Auron told him. They were in it now, surrounded by the grey flesh as Tidus rose higher to the golden light that framed the dark haired man. It felt warm, scared as Tidus was he acknowledged that feeling, heat, safety... No that wasn't right, that couldn't be right!

"It all begins here," Auron said. Suddenly he too was sucked up in a blur into the light and Tidus began to scream as everything turned to white.


	3. Chapter 2- Ending a Dream

Elowyn rose slowly with a grunt of pain, her head was spinning and she felt a little nauseous but she was relieved to find herself alive. It was surprising given the circumstance. She touched her head, wincing when she felt a bump at her crown and then blinked and attempted to take in her surroundings. It was dim, cold and dry, a large cavern with strange light sources, she rubbed her eyes and blinked a couple of times, unconvinced that what she was seeing was real. There were lights floating about the cavern lazily, smoking and glowing green and white, they had a single bright spot with a misty trail behind them and twisted about the air as if they were somehow alive. She was unnerved by them and uneasy at the purple smoke that hovered near the rocky ceiling.

She guessed from the half-buried, cracked, stone tiles, crumbled pillars and hints of engravings on the walls that she was in ruins, perhaps of a temple though it was difficult to tell. 'Where am I?' she wondered warily. 'This definitely isn't Zanarkand,' she thought with a slight frown.

She jumped, turning sharply as a low growl jolted her out of her thoughts. A huge beast was looming in the shadows peering out at her with beady, yellow eyes. It was like nothing she had ever seen before, grey furred with huge paws and four purple tentacles. She touched her head as a pang shot through it combined with an image of tentacles glowing and twitching before a man in a red coat had rushed forward and eliminated them in one powerful attack. 'Zanarkand,' she thought weakly as she lowered her hand and shook the image from her head.

The beast snarled and moved forward slowly on its four large paws, easily towering over her, it was all muscle with a feline face. Its large mouth parted and she glimpsed glowing red before she stumbled back with a shriek, throwing her hands up to shield her face as she did. She tripped over something as the ball of fire came, falling as it neared her, causing it to mercifully pass over her head and explode against the stone wall behind her. She landed hard on something metallic and stone and before she had time to think she felt herself moving in a blur, it was too fast for her to take in the sensation and in mere seconds it was over.

She sucked in a gasp of air before daring to lower her hands, her eyes widening as she realised her surroundings had changed once more. 'Is this a dream?' she wondered dumbly as she stood up slowly. She glanced down at what had broken her fall, it was a boxed shaped platform framed in a red squiggle with a strange engraving on it that included four arrows pointing in opposite directions. She looked past it dismissively to this cavern's main feature, several tapestries of black cloth with gold and red embroidery on them and symbols she did recognise in white or in black in white circles, all held down with ornate brass objects and leading into a large hole. Over the hole several long strips of cream paper were criss-crossed; each of them with symbols inked on them in black, and pinned down at either end by red discs with more black symbols on them. It looked like a section taped off in warning and Elowyn wondered if it was simply a warning about the hole.

'Seems unlikely,' she thought sardonically as she took a brave step forward, 'it would be a little over the top just for that but if not then what is it?' She reached the edge of the hole and leaned over to look at it curiously. A gasp of horror escaped her and she almost fell into the pit in alarm, there was a person down there! She stared, transfixed in disgust and alarm, as she tried to take him in. Male, muscular, tanned and in a weird position, on his side and almost embedded in a colourful object of wood and stone, his left arm protruding, one sword clutched firmly in his hand. "Hey!" she called out to him. "Hey are you alright? No of course not," she scorned herself aloud, "he's clearly trapped in that...thing!"

She did not know what possessed her and could not even recall moving down but suddenly she found herself in the pit with the man, two hands reaching to grasp at his arm. His flesh was like marble at first, hard and cold but then suddenly it turned warm and soft as a loud, foreign hymn exploded through her ears and a vision of a tough warrior in armour clutching a long, thin bladed sword fighting strange looking beasts with a dog by his side filled her.

She shook off the vision, looking down at the man with fresh alarm as she saw his body rise slightly indicating a breath. "Wake up please," she begged as the strange song continued to sing through her ears, louder with each verse. "Wake up!" she snapped as she shook his arm hard. It was stranger but the more she shook the freer he became from his wooden and stone confines, his body seeming to rise up from it slowly.

She tensed as a jolt raced through her, her head shot upwards as her eyes rolled back in her skull and she was consumed by the image of a multi-coloured being, faintly human like and gigantic in appearance. It wore a cloak dyed like a sunset down to between its knees and waist, leavings its long, gnarly, golden, almost skeletal fingers visible. Its head was mostly in shadow, hidden beneath an ornate, golden hat that was turned down and stretched out to the purple edges of the cloak which hung between two large, bulky shoulders decorated with swirls of gold outlined in red, with shoulder blades of gold outlined in red and veined in purple just showing as they sank into the cloak, which had armholes. It was like nothing Elowyn had ever seen before and when it turned its glowing turquoise eyes on her she filled with terror at the fury in them.

She crumpled with a groan as foam leaked out of her lips and her vision turned to black. She would have passed out but the feeling of movement beside her kept her clinging onto consciousness.

"What have you done?" the voice attempted to sound deep and furious but came out as weak, a voice unused to being used through these lips in a while. "This...it..."

She pushed herself upright at the voice though it took all her strength just to get into a sitting position, she was drained to the point of pain, every muscle ached, her head was banging and her eyes felt dry and bloodshot. She opened them warily fixing her golden stare upon what appeared to be a man. Her gaze went wide and her mouth opened in a silent gape. Tall, toned, tanned and partially garbed like a warrior it was the man who had appeared to be to half-trapped in wood and stone, a living statue. "You...you're awake," she marvelled.

"You woke me," he accused as his emerald stare fell upon her. It almost glowed and she shuddered, catching a flashback of the strange, gigantic creature almost humanoid but certainly not human. His voice was harsh but weak and despite his strong form he was slumped over, looking as exhausted as she did. He shook his head in despair and disbelief before looking down at the cracked wooden shape he was resting in. His thoughts were dim, confused and disoriented, for a long time there had been a dream, a long dream that managed to be both consistent and yet ever changing, and tiring and adventurous. There had been people, people who had called him up from a stasis of neither consciousness nor unconsciousness, not quite of the living and not quite of the dead either. "You...woke me," he repeated, still in shock.

"Yes," she murmured, just as surprised as she was. "You were trapped; well I thought you were, did someone put you here? Is that it?" she quipped. "How long have you been here?"

He shook his head helplessly at her questions, this was not right, this could not be, he was not a man anymore, he had forsaken that, traded the trappings of mortal flesh to become part of something greater, to be part of the dream of hope. "Yojimbo," he sounded out the syllables carefully, it was the only word coming to his mind right now. 'Not a word,' he thought dumbly, 'my name.'

"Is that you?" she queried as she continued to stare up at him, wondering who he was, why he had been trapped down here and most importantly of all, where was here?

"My name," he said more confidently, "my name is Yojimbo, they dared only whisper it...once."

"Right, well I'm Elowyn," she introduced, "and I think we need to get out of this pit." She moved to her feet, staggering slightly as she felt lightheaded with the gesture before she righted herself once more. She studied him from her better vantage point, he was somewhere in his thirties she thought, extremely tall he would easily dwarf her when he stood, his hair was long, thick and jet black and up in a ponytail, and he was clad only from the waist down in cream pants held up by a turquoise sash at his waist.

"Out," he repeated carefully. He glanced down at himself, only now realising that in his left hand a blade was clutched tightly. It looked familiar, the wooden sheath purple with swirls of gold on it, the handle a reddish-purple with a scale like pattern, its top made of silver, it was expensive looking and he knew it had cost a fair amount of coin once. "Zanmato," he murmured dryly, "I kill only when it's worth killing for."

Elowyn wanted to shrink back from him at those words but she daren't show fear, it was bad enough that he was clearly armed and she most definitely wasn't. "Come on," she urged.

He looked up at her sharply, anger burning bright in his turquoise eyes before he rose in one fluid motion. He swayed with a sudden weakness and was surprised when his body, once so rigid, betrayed him and gave way. Elowyn darted in quickly and just managed to catch him with both hands though the weight of him had her arms bending, and her feet sliding back in the dirt. She gritted her teeth as she just managed to stop him from hitting the ground before he finally righted himself once more.

He opened his mouth to thank her but seemed to think better of it and shut it again. Instead he stepped out of his wooden and stone confines, staring back at them in incredulity. It was meant to be a glamorous tomb, or a place of eternal slumber if one didn't want to be gloomy about it, he wasn't supposed to ever step out from it, not like this, not in this form. It felt wrong as he moved away from it and followed the woman up the steep, dirt slope with much effort, slipping and cursing, on her part anyway. When he reached the top and saw the ribbons of restraint that had guarded his confines he frowned and the anger returned to his gaze. "I was to be forgotten," he said angrily, "hidden, and abandoned."

Elowyn shrugged helplessly, unsure of what the ribbons meant. "I don't know," she admitted, "I just came here, out of thin air almost, from my world right to this cave...I found you in that pit, lying there...I didn't know if you were asleep or dead or...what..."

"Asleep," he said stiffly as he turned his attention back to her with a frown, "asleep and dreaming of a warrior greater than me, a rich and powerful fighter and..." He turned back to the pit suddenly with a cry of alarm. "Daigoro! Daigoro!" he repeated the name as loudly as his aching throat would allow. There was no answer and no hint below of anyone or anything else. His shoulders sagged, his head bowed low and he filled with grief. "Still dreaming," he murmured quietly.

"Who's Daigoro?" Elowyn pried.

"My dog," he confessed glumly as he continued to look down at the pit hopefully.

"There was no dog down there," Elowyn informed him. "Maybe...maybe he's somewhere else in this place," she suggested.

Yojimbo shook his head. "No, he still dreams," he retorted quietly, "but I do not, against all the laws I am awake now and it is terrible."

Elowyn looked offended at this and frowned up at the man. "My apologies," she grumbled sardonically, "for waking up a man I thought was in trouble. Should I have left you down there to die?"

His eyes were upon her once more, burning at her accusingly. "Die?" he sneered, though his voice was hoarse, unfamiliar with such use. "Do you not know what I am? Was? Do you not understand?"

"No, clearly not," she retorted coolly. 'A prisoner or a criminal?' she wondered curiously. 'Such a strange place to be left in and such a strange way to be left.'

"Fayth," he answered as the word came to his mind, "I was fayth."

Elowyn looked confused and said calmly, "I've never heard that word, not the way you mean it, not even the way it's normally meant, not in a long time. Faith, who has that anymore?"

"I was it," he said with a scowl, "but you ended that."

She hugged herself feeling goosebumps along her arms and frowned back, losing her fear for anger. 'This place is cold,' she thought moodily as she looked about their dark surroundings. "Well, sorry I woke you up sleeping beauty. Now, I'm going to get out of here since this isn't really all that pleasant a place to be, you can come if you want but you need to stop glaring at me."

"Glaring," he snapped incredulously, "I do not glare! And when I do grace you with a look you should humble yourself and be afraid!" Yes, he was starting to remember, he was Yojimbo, he was vengeance! 'Was,' he thought coldly, 'not am, not anymore.'

Elowyn rolled her gold eyes, unfolded her arms and turned from him dismissively. She looked about the cave in frustration as she realised there was no obvious exit. Her gaze fell upon the metal platform of arrows and strange markings that she had accidently fallen upon before somehow finding herself here. 'Could that be it?' she wondered suspiciously. 'Did that platform bring me here? Then if I step on it am I back to where that creature was? Will it have gone by now? What choice do I have, there's no other exit?'

The pale haired woman started moving towards the platform slowly. Before she stepped upon it she turned her head back to Yojimbo. "Be careful," she warned, "there are strange beasts in this place." She stepped on it then and vanished in a blur.

Yojimbo let out a cry of surprise and immediately chased after her, running onto the platform as he did and finding himself moving with a speed that took the breath from his lungs.

The beast from before was gone and so Elowyn tentatively led the way through a dark, rocky tunnel lit by the strange swirling lights and misty purple glow. She knew it was too good to be true when they made it through the tunnel without trouble and was unsurprised when two snarls greeted them at its end. "I don't have any weapons," she warned Yojimbo quietly as she bent down and picked up the only thing available, a rock.

They came out of the darkness swiftly, identical large, feline looking creatures with thick, creamy, black stripped fur, four, sharp clawed paws, and long whiskers that ended in large greenish-blue tufts. The lightning came without warning, crackling out from their whiskers viciously and snapping dangerously at Elowyn's feet before she dodged. Yojimbo let instinct take over but his body was horribly stiff and disappointingly sloppy, unused to movement in a long, long time. He reached for daggers that were not there and let out a cry of pain and anger as he was struck in his folly.

Elowyn threw the rock before the creatures could pounce, striking one squarely between its amber eyes immediately drawing its attention towards her. "Here kitty, kitty," she called to it mockingly as she searched desperately for another weapon.

Yojimbo righted himself to his knees with a grunt before pulling out his sword. 'I am weak,' he thought in outrage, 'this is impossible, I cannot be weak!' He moved to his feet, swinging the blade at his approaching foe.

With a snarl one of the fiends leaped for Elowyn. She dodged to the right but was not quick enough and let out a gasp of pain as its claws raked down the back of her right leg cutting through cloth and skin. It was then that Yojimbo struck true with his sword, plunging the blade deep through his foe's skull instantly stopping it in its tracks. The creature let out a terrible howl of pain before slumping to the right awkwardly as it collapsed in death and dissolved into a flurry of lights. Yojimbo tried to pull his sword back out but was slow with the movement as his body lacked the strength and groaned in protest. He felt faint and his vision was black at the edges as his body threatened to give way to oblivion.

Elowyn grasped another stone as she fell and rolled over swiftly as two heavy paws slammed down on either side of her. An open mouth with glittering fangs came down as her hand moved up, plunging up into skin, bone and flesh, the sharp tip of the rock hitting the roof of the creature's mouth. She turned her head away in disgust as she yanked it forward viciously causing blood to pour out. The creature pulled back and up with a roar of pain and rose onto its hind legs. It never saw the bloody blade that cut clumsily into the back of its neck, severing its head from its body and causing it to dissolve into the colourful lights that haunted the caverns. Elowyn could only watch in shock as this happened, her mind too baffled to even attempt to make sense of it.

For a moment the pale haired woman just lay there, stunned, before the frowning face of a tired and angry warrior loomed into her vision. "We must go," Yojimbo remarked, trying to sound fierce but only coming across as weary.

Elowyn nodded dumbly before forcing herself to her feet once more. They moved as quickly and as quietly as they could, journeying through several caves and tunnels littered with ruins that hinted of a former decorative interior with statues, carvings and pillars. White beings with horns and long, clawed hands floated past, almost spying them, and a bizarre creature on four, stilt like legs with a long, curved, pointed tail, thin, curved horns and a purple flesh tinged red at its body attacked them. It struck out at both of them with its tail, and almost slashed Elowyn's torso open with a pointed leg before Yojimbo finally struck it down, once more causing it to transform into misty lights.

Deciding that the caverns were haunted, cursed or both, caused Elowyn to increase her pace despite her pain. It was with great relief and the narrow avoidance of two lizard like creatures that the woman and her odd companion finally made it outside to a grey skied afternoon. They had no time to take in their new surroundings as they were quickly greeted by the sound of guns clicking. Seven men stood before them, all of them armed and wearing armour, consisting of steel breastplates with chainmail that guarded to their knees, steel boots, gloves and shoulder plates, and helmets that hid their eyes from sight with a black looking visor. Six were almost identical, four with raised rifles and two clutching something much larger that was linked to a cylinder at their back. The seventh wore better looking armour over more expensive clothes and had a rifle in both hands, a large sword at his back, a dagger at his left hip and another weapon partially concealed at his right.

"Well this is unexpected," the seventh male murmured as he lowered his rifle, holding it by his side with one hand as he reached for his helmet with the other and tugged it off. He was young, Elowyn didn't think he could be much older than her, with a short crop of messy, coppery brown hair, lightly tanned skin with freckles at his nose, a mocking smile and two mismatched eyes, his right one brown and his left one olive green. He could have been good looking were his eyes not so cold and his smile full of malice. "Not one but two people coming out of a fayth's cavern that is meant to be forgotten to the world." His eyes flickered curiously from Yojimbo to Elowyn, neither of the two looked like they belonged, nor did they look equipped for travelling which was strange given the closest settlement was Ronso country and he doubted highly that they originated from there. 'Not tailored for it either,' he thought dryly as he eyed the male's lack of clothing and the female's rather odd garments that didn't look practical for any kind of terrain.

"Kazu, Tetra, see that our new companions here don't go anywhere until the cavern is thoroughly searched," he ordered as he continued to look from Yojimbo to Elowyn. "I apologise," he addressed them calmly, "but you have appeared in suspicious circumstances in an area not known for its visitors. Let us survey the area to make sure nothing is amiss and then you can both be on your way."

Elowyn clenched her fists tightly and snapped in protest, "we've done nothing wrong!" She tried to hide her nerves with indignation as she thought of the now empty, wooden and stone statue that lay broken in a pit beneath ribbons of warning and wondered if Yojimbo was indeed a prisoner.

The coppery haired man nodded dismissively even as he placed his helmet back on and then snapped his fingers to the men behind him. The two men clutching the larger looking weapons stepped forward swiftly. "Apologies again," he addressed Elowyn, "but the guilty would be as quick to protest as the innocent, perhaps quicker and in these turbulent times I cannot afford to take anyone at their word, I must investigate. All I ask is that you remain still and calm, I wouldn't want my men to burn you."

"Burn?" Elowyn choked out as she paled.

He nodded again and said calmly, "Tetra."

The man on the right squeezed his weapon gently causing a yellow flame to escape with a hiss. Elowyn took a step back with a nervous shake of her head.

"Be still," the copper haired man said sternly, "I wouldn't want my men to get jumpy and add some new marks to your face." He stepped past her dismissively earning a glower from Yojimbo, which he ignored. The other four men followed leaving Yojimbo and Elowyn with the two men clutching flamethrowers. Yojimbo wondered if he could take them but his body felt heavy with exhaustion and it was taking all of his effort just to remain standing.

Elowyn looked at them anxiously, too transfixed with fear to even think of a plan. 'Fire,' she thought fearfully, 'no more fire.' She could see Zanarkand in flames and started shaking as she remembered the screams of pain, screams she could relate to. Her family were probably dead, probably burned alive. "No," she murmured as she shook her head and blocked it out. "No more fire," she mumbled.


	4. Chapter 3- A New Fight

Via Purifico, it seemed a grand name for a prison but then everything in this strange place seemed grand, complicated and detailed. General Camdell pushed her into it in one sharp and brutal gesture causing her to stumble and almost fall to her knees. She moved wearily, broken and unconcerned now, perhaps a little relieved that it was at last nearing an end. The torture and questions had seemed like an eternity, accusations of being a rogue summoner, an agent of the Al Bhed and other things she had not heard of.

It had started almost immediately, General Camdell, for that was who the strange eyed copper haired man was, had charged out of the cavern he had found Elowyn and Yojimbo outside with a look of fury. He had shouted commands for her and Yojimbo to both be restrained and taken back to camp. They had been separated; Elowyn had found herself chained up in a small tent that smelt of rotten eggs with a guard clutching a flamethrower. Moments later General Camdell had appeared and dismissed the man. He had informed her coolly that her companion had claimed to be Yojimbo and he demanded to know of her how that was possible. The beatings had begun in earnest when he had not liked her answers.

Elowyn had resisted for a long time, not even sure why she should keep quiet about what had transpired. She guessed that Yojimbo had been a criminal or prisoner after all but General Camdell gave her no clues as to why. The copper haired man had simply made it clear that Yojimbo was talking, claiming that she had awoken him. Elowyn could not understand why the general had scorned at that in mocking disbelief.

The young woman had soon found herself blindfolded and on the move, she was not sure how they travelled, bumpy and on the road and then on some sort of animal that squawked and had feathers that made her nose itch, then they were on foot. Four days, maybe less, maybe more went by, she couldn't tell as the sun and moon were banished from sight. When they rested she found herself back in a small tent, bound and beaten by the general who snarled questions at her.

It was when the blindfold was removed for the final time and she found herself in a small dark room that she finally cracked. Alone and without any guards nearby to spy, General Camdell revealed something to her with a malicious grin, he was, he explained, a black mage. When the fire came Elowyn had broke almost instantly. She had babbled about coming from Zanarkand and being sucked into a huge beast then finding herself in the cavern without explanation. She had sobbed about how she had found Yojimbo there, seemingly asleep or drugged and felt compelled to help him. She admitted thinking him a prisoner or criminal and how he had been angry to be awoken and shocked.

General Camdell had listened to her in angry disbelief, burst out laughing and then rewarded her with fresh fiery scars on her face. Now he was done with her, abandoning her in this place called Via Purifico to die slowly.

"A lingering death is an apt punishment," he addressed her coldly from behind, "for all your lies. Still, I'm going to be kind and give you a chance to decide if you want to fight to your death or be mauled quickly."

She heard a clang as something metallic fell noisily beside her. She glanced out of the corner of her right eye and glimpsed two smooth, cylinder metal objects with a chain between them.

"There is no escape so it matters not really," the general commented dismissively.

She listened to his footsteps fade away before the heavy clang of the metal door followed. Only then did she sag to her knees in defeat. She ached all over, her ribs were bruised, her left ankle swollen and all over her were fresh burns and scars to add to the collection. She considered simply staying where she was and letting the hunger and thirst that had plagued her for days finally kill her. Yet she couldn't, beneath the despair and pain there was a hot rage building, an anger for the creature that had damned her to this place, a jealous fury for Tidus who had somehow shared and yet evaded her fate, and resentment for the red coated man who had led them to it. There was also a hatred for herself for naively following them, desperation for life replacing sense, and finally there was a fiery need for vengeance growing for General Camdell. He had beaten her without reason, refused to believe her story, made her relive her worst fears and laughed at her tears. The man was a monster, it was not enough to hurt her, no, his means of torture had been deliberate. He had wanted to break her and for a while he had.

'I can either stay here pondering the whys and die or I can get a move on and spite the bastard by getting out of here,' she thought coldly. Her right hand snapped out, snatching up the weapon he had bestowed upon her. She wasn't sure what exactly it was but she could guess at the just of it, hold one cylinder and swing out the other, undoubtedly there was a skill to it but she would have to opt for brute force and speed and hope for the best.

She stood upright and started to walk. Her surroundings were dim, green and grey, the floor was cracked, stone tiles, the walls decorative stone with a pattern of arches at the top, below it red triangles and at the bottom red and grey rectangles, with red columns adding support. The light source came from pale green orbs that jutted out at the bottom of the walls between the columns and were encased beneath square shaped crystal. Elowyn could not help but wonder if this had always been a dungeon; it seemed very much like it had been designed with a higher purpose in mind.

She moved at a quick walk and tried hard to ignore the pain racing through her. Left, right, north, east, the directions became confusing after a while and every corridor and room looked almost identical. She noticed a few oddities, such as a square tile on one floor that looked similar to the one in Yojimbo's cavern but disappointingly did nothing, a broken light, a large crack in a wall, and an empty, wooden treasure chest that had gathered dust. When she spied the large crack in the wall for the third time she let out a snarl of despair and instantly regretted it as a growl answered her.

She turned in time to be mauled by long, thin claws as a reptilian beast sprung at her. She screamed and tried to push it back as it tore her skin to ribbons effortlessly. She clutched the two metal cylinders together tightly and punched out, hitting it hard in the face. It had the desired result and the beast sprang back with a squeal. It moved on four legs and was long and slender, a light purple with a green stripe on its back and a large fan like, blue crest sitting on its spine. It was like a giant lizard only much bolder than any lizard Elowyn had seen. It moved quickly forcing her to swing out with her weapon. One cylinder flew out, striking the beast hard in the skull; she yanked the chain back sharply and swung again. It hit true again and to her relief the beast slumped on its side either unconscious or dead.

The woman bolted from the area before the creature could stir though it caused a blinding pain to spread up from her ankle making her vision flash red. She bit back a gasp of pain, determined not to draw anything else to her though her feet were slapping loudly against the stone and her heart was pounding so loudly it was a wonder a whole horde of creatures weren't upon her. She ran and ran, rushing through corridors and rooms without a second glance or any clue if she was just going in circles. On and on, she kept going until her body finally gave out, too sore and tired to press on. She sank to her knees in defeat and glanced about her surroundings nervously. The area looked new, part of the wall was crumbled and she thought she could make out a hole in it. She crawled towards it hopefully and peered through.

Elowyn made out an amber glow and the faint sound of water before a shriek drew her attention back. She turned in horror to face a grotesque bat like creature this time. She recalled briefly pictures of gargoyles in a history book at school and could not help but wonder in horror if this was one come to life. Blue and leathery it was a head with a large, watchful, yellow eye, a row of sharp teeth with two fangs that sat horizontal on either side, thin legs, a long, pointed tail and two huge, bat like wings.

It blinked and a beam of burning light shot out of it, striking her painfully in the chest. Elowyn let out a yelp of agony before swinging her weapon out futilely. It was too far away and her weapon did not even come close. She forced herself to her feet only to be knocked down by its next beam. She struck her head against the wall with a cry of pain and for a moment lay there dazed as dust clouded her vision. Another beam that struck her legs snapped her back to her senses though she was still a little dizzy and her skull was now pounding and felt damp at the back.

Elowyn sat up with a groan and turned to the wall behind her, some of the bricks had fallen down. In desperation she grabbed one, turned and threw it hard. It struck the creature straight in the eye causing it to spin wildly with a scream. Elowyn took advantage, turning back to the wall and moving hurriedly, shifting bricks and loosening them as best she could to widen the hole. There was another room through there, something different to the numerous corridors she had wandered through, a chance, perhaps her only chance!

It was another beam attack that ironically helped the pale haired woman through. The force of the attack sent her through the bricks and hole ungracefully and with several curses. She landed in a breathless heap, covered in dust and dripping in blood but somehow still alive. She gasped for air and choked up dust before rolling over and attempting to right her blurry vision by blinking. The floor beneath her was multicoloured and just in front of her was a decorative marble fence with a gap between two purple, turquoise topped pillars. In the gap was a small, rounded off platform that jutted outwards.

She crawled forward desperately as she heard the angry cries of her winged foe as it started assaulting the broken wall with attacks, determined to follow her through. There was the water she had heard earlier, a deep pool of it into which several small pipes flowed. She could see brown spikes all around the platform and the walls, if she went down there would be no climbing back out. 'It's probably a trap,' she thought wearily, 'people go to it in thirst and find themselves stuck, doomed to drown. Still, what other choice do I have?'

The bat creature finally smashing through the wall was her answer. She forced herself forward, pushing to avoid the spikes as a beam of light soared over her head. She hit the water with a painful splash and let out a gasp below the surface at the chill of the water. She shot up with a splutter and splash, sucking in air desperately as she tried to calm herself. A beam hitting the water dangerously close to her causing her face to get soaked with the impact reminded her of the immediate danger.

'The only way is down,' she thought determinedly as she sucked in a deep breath and plunged down.

Her vision was blurred with the water and the lights were distorted and faint but still enough for her to spy the hole in the ground. Either this place was old and unattended or people before her had made an effort to get out. Not caring for the reason behind her odd luck, she kicked hard with her legs, which was difficult given the swelling in her ankle and the stress all her muscles had suffered. Sheer willpower and a rush of adrenaline kept her going, down through the dark, on and on even as her chest burned for air. She was not a blitzball player, she was not skilled at holding her breath but she had no choice. Just as her head began to sing with pain and her mind threatened to black out she finally made it through to another chamber and was able to surface with a gasp.

It was a small, dusty room with a single glowing white light, all the other lights broken. There was a noise that drew her attention, a faint rumbling sound and then she felt the faint tug at her body. She turned round and looked ahead to where the water rippled against the wall and realised with wide eyes that it was flowing out. Maybe it was a waterfall that slammed into the ground, maybe she would escape only to die seconds later from a painful fall. 'At least I would still die free,' she thought fiercely as her teeth started to chatter.

She was exhausted now and unwilling to contemplate another choice, she had no energy to defend herself, and if she opted for some other way, if there was one, she might only be recaptured. No, this was it, she had been led here through chance and dumb luck, this was the way. She sucked in another breath, plunged below the surface and kicked out. She did not have to swim far before the current seized her and she was pulled under the wall and out.

She felt the cool rush of the open air against her face and glimpsed a blur of lights before terror overcame her and she felt the icy spray of the water as her body drifted back into it. She spiralled down moving half with the force of the water and half with the force of gravity. She moved in a blur and yet it seemed to take forever. She could not breathe and consciousness began to slip away from her. Then at last she struck the pool with a splash lost to the thunderous sound of the waterfall. The current forced her under, threatening to drown her but then it seemed to change its mind and pushed her free. Limp, she drifted up to the surface and banged against the tiled edge of the rectangular pool the waterfall ran into.

She could not move though she knew she should, at any moment guards could come and find her, or someone worse. She did not consider that someone might help her, no, she would not be that lucky. So, with a grunt of pain, she lifted her arms though it took all her effort as they felt as heavy as iron. She released her weapon on the tiles before gripping the tiles tightly and pulling. It took ages for Elowyn to wriggle out of the water ungracefully but with several grunts of pain she made it, only to finally pass out from the effort.

It was in a damp, bloody and battered state that she was found two hours later by a startled young man with short, spiked, crimson hair and curious blue eyes. He glanced about to see if anyone else was around to help or witness but there was no one, it was late in the evening and though Bevelle was lit up indicating activity few were out walking the streets. Indeed, if he had not been coming from his sick mother's house Luzzu would not be out here either. He sighed and kneeled down beside the woman, pressing two fingers against her neck to check for a pulse. She was a wretched looking thing, coated purple, green, black and red with bruises and blood, and yet there was a pulse, faint but present.

The man attempted to scoop her up as gently as he could, wincing when her damp, tattered clothes soaked his own. When she let out a moan of protest he muttered down to her, "it's alright, you're safe now."

Safe, Elowyn doubted that very much.


End file.
